Corporate Logo Changes Throughout The Years

Fiver

Fiver

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I actually prefer some of the older logos from the past. The '68 Xerox, 72' IBM, and the '87 Kodak all look better than what their current logo is.

Kodak inparticular I think made a mistake changing to a more contemporary look. Kodak specializes in memories. So why take your logo which you've used since essentially 1971 and change it entirely? I think in this case, you want to keep that nostalgic feel with your brand, much like Hershey's.

The new logo makes them look like a printer company. But much like other branders, they decided to simplify their logo.

Anyways, let's hear your thoughts on some of these.

20 Corporate Brand Logo Evolution | Inspiration | instantShift
 


cool find.. I think it's interesting how many of the companies have switched from logo incorporated tag lines/slogans to very simple symbols while companies like Microsoft have decided to start using them..

Maybe I'm just nostalgic too but I think a few of the new logos are much worse than the older versions and provide a lot less brand identity.. Especially pepsi's...
 
I really like VW's 1939 logo-
Swastika.png
 
It's funny how some of those companies moved toward more 3D logos, like the BMW, Xerox and VW with gradients and shading, while others went with much simpler, 2d flat designs. Pretty cool history there.
 
efeezy said:
It's funny how some of those companies moved toward more 3D logos, like the BMW, Xerox and VW with gradients and shading, while others went with much simpler, 2d flat designs. Pretty cool history there.
Click to expand...

Yup. UPS did the same thing and a lot of people in the advertising industry said it was a mistake to ditch their old "gift package" icon and go with something 3D instead to the tune of 23MM to change all the trucks, signs, etc.

Old Logo
90px-UPS_Logo_from_1961-2003.png


New Logo

 
Some of these logos have a change of like 5%.

I would have loved to been that designer or firm that did that. LOL all the way to the fucking bank. charge these fools 100-200k for it.
 
Philip P said:
That first Volkswagen logo is very swastika-like:

bcle-11.jpg
Click to expand...

If you read the history, Volkswagen was originally Hitler's idea. He first proposed the commercial car manufacturing plant and Porsche people were invited to create the design.

When the manufacturing plant was set up, the real intentions of Hitler dawned upon everyone. He intended to use these so-called commercial vehicles for his personal military use. Cars that could carry three people and a machine gun.

After the World War II, when the British took over, they were the people who named these cars - Beetle!

The original logo was designed by one of the German employees in an office logo competition and hence the Nazi Swastika influence.
 
DanGlobalizer said:
The current Pepsi logo is just silly - love the 1940s version.
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I agree, and think the logos from the 1950s and 60s are the most stylish in general. Microsoft never had a logo with any style at all. Neither does Walmart.

The 1934 Kwanon logo with the Buddhist goddess is really bitchin! My father used to call MasterCard "the two balls." That's the perfect name. They should change it.
 
(O_o) said:
Some of these logos have a change of like 5%.

I would have loved to been that designer or firm that did that. LOL all the way to the fucking bank. charge these fools 100-200k for it.
Click to expand...

100-200k? LOL. Think more in the couple mil range. 100-200k can get you a decent brand study. These guys have ginormous budgets and do a metric fuckton of focus groups, internal/employee studies, and more. Changing a brand is more than just making a tweak to a logo. Sometimes, it's getting an organization of a couple thousand people to buy into a certain way of thinking. Internal branding is just as important (if not more so) than external.

If you think all the agency/botique/whatever did was tweak the logo a bit, you are mistaken. That being said, the amount of $ these companies spend sometimes is laughable. Branding is very critical though, especially at such a high level.
 
AuthorAji said:
If you read the history, Volkswagen was originally Hitler's idea. He first proposed the commercial car manufacturing plant and Porsche people were invited to create the design.

When the manufacturing plant was set up, the real intentions of Hitler dawned upon everyone. He intended to use these so-called commercial vehicles for his personal military use. Cars that could carry three people and a machine gun.

After the World War II, when the British took over, they were the people who named these cars - Beetle!

The original logo was designed by one of the German employees in an office logo competition and hence the Nazi Swastika influence.
Click to expand...

The "people's car" was created as an cheap car that everyone could afford in Germany not some military vehicle (not that they were never used in the military), those were called Panzers :) Remember, Nazi Germany was a socialist society and everyone was to be "equal".

Sorry to thread crash, but history is my thing.
 
DanGlobalizer said:
The current Pepsi logo is just silly - love the 1940s version.
Click to expand...

That one is good too. They could've even stuck with the '73 version which I also thought worked well. Everything after that has sucked.

What baffles me is that a few of these companies are dropping the name from the logo entirely, Pepsi included.
 
(O_o) said:
I would have loved to been that designer or firm that did that. LOL all the way to the fucking bank. charge these fools 100-200k for it.
Click to expand...
Heh, my old school (was quite small, only had like 400/500 people) dropped 60k on a logo.

(and they came out with this piece of shit:
VJ2TT.png
)

God they spent their money on stupid things.
 
BlokBlok said:
The "people's car" was created as an cheap car that everyone could afford in Germany not some military vehicle (not that they were never used in the military), those were called Panzers :) Remember, Nazi Germany was a socialist society and everyone was to be "equal".

Sorry to thread crash, but history is my thing.
Click to expand...

A Panzer is a German Tank, if am not mistaken.

The people's car project is little to be talked about here. We're talking about the history of Volkswagen as a company.

When the statement - "Five Marks weekly should be kept aise aside, If you wish ride in your own car" (or something along those lines was set off) was let off after the project - the makers believed that the Germans would save money for buying the car. It was Hitler who sponsored the entire program.

The designer was Ferdinand Porsche who created the first Beetle and by the time the cars went into production stage, the war had already broken out - which meant that the vehicles were used as military transport vehicles.

The most common had to be VW Type 82 -

2irvjh3.jpg


Source - Wikipedia and a couple Google Searches

--

Note - I ain't a Wikiot (Wikipedia believing Idiot) or something. I have read books about the history of companies like VW, BMW, GM and the likes and can verify that the above info is correct.
 
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